Tories at war over energy crisis as minister Michael Gove ‘joins rebels who want MORE wind farms’ – as climate sceptic backbenchers demands Rishi Sunak EASE the windfall tax on firms who have made billions as families suffer
- Gove has reportedly privately backed rebels who want onshore wind ban lifted
- MPs including ex-premiers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson are planning changes
- Onshore wind moratorium in place since 2015 and supported by the PM
The Tories appeared embroiled in an internal war over energy policy today as Rishi Sunak faced rebellions over wind farms and a tax on big businesses making billions as families suffer from massive bills.
Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove has reportedly privately backed rebels who want the Prime Minister to lift a ban on onshore windfarms in rural areas.
A group of MPs including ex-premiers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson are planning changes to the system that would allow more to be built to help make the UK more energy self-sufficient.
More than 30 Tories are backing an amendment tabled by former Tory minister Simon Clarke to allow the farms where there is community consent, and Labour is considering backing it as well.
But at the same time Mr Sunak is being hammered by climate sceptic MPs who are demanding he cut the windfall tax that targets excess profits made by gas and oil firms in the past year.
They claim it could halt production in the North Sea altogether, which would hit domestic security and jobs.
The tax, which has popular support in the UK, was increased from 25 per cent to 35 per cent in Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement and will not be in place until 2028 instead of 2025.
Levelling-Up Secretary Michael Gove has reportedly joined the ranks of Conservative rebels who want the Prime Minister to lift a ban on onshore windfarms in rural areas.
More than 30 Tories are backing an amendment tabled by former Tory minister Simon Clarke to allow the farms where there is community consent, and Labour is considering backing it as well.
Craig Mackinlay MP, the chairman of the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, told the Telegraph: ‘We want more domestically derived energy. You do not get more domestically derived energy by taxing it more.
‘While some of the supersize companies can accept they have had it pretty good for a while, what if those good times don’t last? What happens if you have a more modest, normal profit? Are we going to still tax at 75 per cent? It is too blunt an instrument.’
And John Redwood added: ‘We need to get as much oil and gas out of the North Sea as possible.
‘I don’t believe it is a windfall tax if it doesn’t stop when profits fall – it is just another tax on business, another tax on a business that is temporarily generating a lot of income but in the past has had heavy losses.’
Rishi Sunak’s net-zero tsar Chris Skidmore has become the latest in a steady stream of Conservative MPs to announce they will not be running again for Parliament.
The former minister said he would not be fighting to find another constituency when expected boundary changes abolish his Kingswood constituency.
Mr Skidmore, 41, is the ninth Tory to detail their exit plans as the party struggles to recover from dire performance in opinion polling.
On Friday levelling-up minister and rising star in the Conservative Party Dehenna Davison said she would not be standing again in the former Labour stronghold of Bishop Auckland.
Mr Skidmore, who has represented Kingswood in Gloucestershire since 2010, said: “With no alternative seat, I have decided that I do not wish to fight another constituency elsewhere in the region or country, especially with a very young family who deserve to see more of their father in their lives.”
The former science minister said he now wants to focus on the UK reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as he undertakes a review for Mr Sunak.
“Rather than step aside, I hope that in the future I can step up to continue to play my own small part in helping to deliver on the energy transition that the world needs,” he said.
Meanwhile former Cabinet minister Alok Sharma has also joined the rebellion against the onshore wind ban.
Mr Sharma, who was the president of the Cop26 climate summit, said he supports letting ‘local communities decide’, backing residents being given reduced energy bills in exchange for their support of new developments.
Mr Sharma said he supports letting ‘local communities decide’, backing residents being given reduced energy bills in exchange for their support of new developments
‘Onshore wind is one of the cheapest forms of renewable power and will help to bolster the UK’s energy security,’ he Tweeted.
‘Putin’s illegal and brutal war in Ukraine has reinforced that climate & environmental security are totally interlinked with energy and national security
‘Faster deployment of renewables, including onshore wind, is needed to deliver on the UK’s 2035, 100 per cent clean electricity target.’
The Prime Minister is facing a major challenge over planning policy from within the Conservative Party on multiple fronts.
He was forced to pull a vote on the legislation that would set a target of building 300,000 homes per year when around 50 Tory MPs threatened to rebel.
Mr Johnson did not seek to overturn the effective moratorium on new onshore wind projects, in place since 2015, during his time as PM.
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